Potato chip cutter



Feb. 6, 1934. J. c. CURDIE 1,946,193

POTATO CHIP CUTTER Filed Jan, 18, 1932 Hullnlllf'm Patentecl Febu 6, 1934 UNITED STATS ATENT' OFFICE miales Po'rA'ro CHIP cU'r'rER Julie c. curaie, Jacksonvme, iu.

Application January 18, 1932. Serial No. 587,425

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an improved cutter for slicing potatoes in the manner practiced in the making of the well known Saratoga Chips and seeks, among other objects 'to provide a device wherein the screw shaft employed may be positively fed forwardly without slippage or idle rotative movement.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device embodying a feed lever which may be rocked in either one direction or the other to coact with the shaft and cause the feeding thereof and wherein the lever may be held in a middle neutral position when the shaft may be slidably shifted endwise either forwardly or rearwardly.

And the invention further seeks to provide a device wherein the lever will be equipped with means which may when desired be adjusted to positively engage the shaft so that the shaft, when rotated, will be positively fed forwardly without the necessity of manual manipulation of the lever.

Other and incidental objects, not particularly mentioned in the foregoing, will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing the chip cutter clamped to a conventional table,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 and particularly showing the feed lever,

Fig. 4 isban enlarged detail showing the eye of the lever and the feed screw carried thereby.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, my improved cutter includes a frame embodying a base bar at one end of which is an upstanding post 11 having an eye 12, and extending rearwardly from the upper end portion of the post is an arm 13 on which is formed an eye 14 aligning with the eye 12. Detachably connected to the forward end of the base bar is an upstanding post 15 secured by a screw 16, the inner end of which is accommodated by an aperture 17 in the bar and projecting rearwardly from the upper end portion of the post axially of the eyes 12 and 14 is a pin 18.

Formed through the post 15 below the pin 18 is an oblong opening 19 through which the slices of potato may discharge and projecting rearwardly from the post at the lower end of said opening is a boss 2G. Removably screwed at its lower end to said boss is a flat knife 21 apertured near its upper end to fit over the pin 18,

and formed on the post at the base of the pin is a boss 22 cooperating with'the boss 20 to'support the knife in spaoed parallel relation to the post at the rear side thereof. As shown in Fig.

2, the opening 19 is somewhat wider than the knife to extend beyond the Cutting edge thereof.

Depending from the rear end of the bar 10 is an L shaped arm 23 through the free end of which is threaded a clamp screw 24. As shown in Fig. 1, the arm 23 is adapted to embrace the margin of a table or the like so that the device '65 may be rigidly secured to the table by the clamp screw.

Freely slidable through the eyes 12 and 14 of the frame is a screw shaft 25 to the forward end w of which is fixed a head 26 carrying prongs 27 and connected to the rear end of the shaft is a hand crank 28. Pivoted upon the post 11 at its forward side is a feed lever 29 secured to the post by a rivet or like device 30 and formed on the lever at its upper end is an eye 31. As best 76 shown in Fig. 4, the eye 31 is provided at one side with internal threads 32 to mate With the thread of the. shaft 25 and screwed through the eye at its opposite side is a radial feed screw 33. As shown, the aperture of the eye is considerably '8'0 larger than the screw shaft so as to permit pivotal movement of the lever.

In use, a potato, as represented in Fig. 1, is impaled on the pin 18 when the shaft 25 is shifted I forwardly and the prongs 27 engaged in the potato.l By exerting a downward pressure on the free end of the lever 29 with one hand and turning the crank 28 with the other hand, the shaft 25 may then be rotated for rotating the potato h relative to the knife 21 to effect the slicing operation. As the shaft is rotated, the threads 32 of the eye 31 of the lever will, of course coact with the thread of the shaft 25 for feeding the shaft forwardly so that the potato will be fed to the knife as the shaft is turned. "65

Attention is now directed to the fact that, if desired, an upward pressure may be exerted on the free end of the lever 29 for causing the screw 33 to engage the shaft 25, when, as the shaft is rotated, said screw will coact with the 5100 thread of the shaft for feeding the shaft forwardly. After the slicing operation is completed the lever is held in a middle neutral position so that neither the threads 32 or the screw 33 will engage the shaft 25 when the shaft may be slidably retracted. By adjusting the screw inwardly however until both the screw and the threads 32 engage the shaft a positive feeding of the shaft will be eifected, as the shaft is rotated, so that i manual pressure on the lever 29 either upwardly or downwardly will be unnecessary. In such instance the shaft may, of course, be retracted only 'by counter rotation thereof. Furthermore advancing the feed screw tight against the shaft, the shaft is clamped stationary against the threads 32 and held against rotation so that the shaft cannot be accidentally rotated, and thus tampering will be prevented, which might damage the device by rotating the prongs 27 against the knife blade.

I-Iaving thus described the invention, I claim:

A slicing device comprising a frame having a base bar and posts rising from opposite ends thereof, an eye at the upper end of one post, an arm extending from said post and having at its outer end an upstanding eye aligned with the eye of the post, a knife carried by the other post, a

` pin projecting from the second post adjacent one end of said knife and extending towards the first post in axial alignment with said eyes, a lever pivoted to the inner face of the first post in a Vertical position and having an eye at its upper end and having a bore of greater diameter than the bores of the first-mentioned eyes, a threaded shaft siidably passed through all of the eyes and having an article engaging head at its inner end and a turning element at its outer end, the eye of said lever being formed With an internal arcuate rib extending partially about its circumference and constituting an interrupted thread ,movable into engagement with the threaded shafrt to control movement thereof When said lever is moved about its pivot in one direction, and a set screw engaged through a threaded opening formed in the eye of the lever opposite said rib and movable into position to bear against said shaft and hold the rib in engagement With threads of the shaft and when further tightened creating frictional binding between the rib and threaded shaft to prevent rotation of the shaft.

JULIE C. CURDIE. [L.S.]

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